The Taylor Swift Effect Is Very Real and It’s Now Taking the Sports World by Storm
To the music world, the power of Taylor Swift is nothing new. But this week, the sports world got a taste of just what the singer-songwriter and her Swifties can do.
After the “Cruel Summer” singer made an appearance at the Chicago Bears and Kansas City Chiefs game on Sunday to support football star Travis Kelce, it sent her fans into a frenzy. Especially since the tight end has previously been open about having romantic feelings towards Swift.
Though neither has confirmed their relationship status, that didn’t stop them from becoming the center of conversation across social media, sports outlets and more.
But the NFL wasn’t the only professional sports league talking about Swift. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said on Thursday’s episode of ESPN’s First Take that Swift should stop hanging out with Kelce so he can set her up with one of the players on his NBA team.
“Taylor, sorry if you’re listening, Travis, break up with him. I got a bunch of good-looking single guys that play for the Dallas Mavericks. I gotchu,” the Shark Tank star quipped.
But the Kansas City tight end wasn’t going to let that happen. Kelce took to X (formerly Twitter) after seeing the clip, jokingly asking Cuban to let him on the team with one of the NBA’s temporary contracts. He wrote in the comments, “@mcuban Just sign me to a ten day!”
Cuban, an entrepreneur who reportedly has a net worth in the billions, decided to shoot his shot, knowing exactly the impact Swift can have. Especially after seeing her Chiefs game appearance help drive ticket and jersey sales and more.
The Hollywood Reporter previously reported that Fox’s NFL broadcast of the Chief-Bears game averaged 24.32 million viewers, the most of the weekend. This came after Fox’s cameras repeatedly cut to Swift, who was sitting in an Arrowhead Stadium suite with Kelce’s family during the game.
But viewership wasn’t the only thing Swift may have had an effect on, as jersey sales for the All-Pro tight end also seemingly skyrocketed. According to sportswear and fan merchandise company Fanatics, Kelce was one of the five top-selling NFL players Sunday. A spokesperson told The Associated Press via email that he “saw a nearly 400% spike in sales throughout the Fanatics network of sites, including NFLShop.com.”
As for game tickets, a spokesperson for StubHub, a resale ticket marketplace, said that “since Swift’s appearance at the Chiefs game on Sunday, the Jets have sold more tickets for their game against the Chiefs in a single day since the season started — by more than double,” according to Town & Country magazine. The Chiefs play the Jets on Oct. 1.
The StubHub rep added that its site has “seen a nearly 3 times increase in sales in a 24-hour window for Chiefs’ home games compared to each of the few days prior,” and that the Chiefs’ biggest sales day for tickets this season came this week after Swift’s visit.
On the Apple charts, New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce, a podcast that Kelce hosts with his brother and fellow NFL star Jason Kelce, is sitting at No. 1 as of Thursday following the release of Wednesday’s episode where the tight end talks about Swift’s surprise appearance. It’s also currently No. 2 on Spotify’s charts.
For Kelce’s personal Instagram, The Sporting News reported that the football star had more than 300,000 new followers by Monday afternoon, a day after the game.
But one thing that’s important to keep in mind is that Swift is no stranger to breaking records. Last year, the Grammy-winning singer crashed Ticketmaster after the site saw record registration and sold the most tickets ever for an artist in one day for her Eras Tour.
The global pop star also became the first female artist in Spotify history to reach 100 million monthly listeners last month. And earlier this year, she became the first living artist in nearly 60 years to have at least four albums at the same time in the top 10 on Billboard’s 200 chart, with Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), Midnights, Lover and Folklore.
